Silent Hill
by xXArticunoXx
Summary: Katara becomes trapped in a world where horrifying monsters lurk around every corner, and a serial killer follows her every step. Locked in her hotel room, Katara has no choice but to face her fears with the help of an unexpected firebender. Zutara
1. In the Beginning

Silent Hill

(A/N: It's been such a long time since I last logged on to and I just wanted to re-write my Silent Hill/Avatar fan fiction because my tastes have changed a little since I had first started typing it. Its summer break (Yay!!!) so, hopefully, I can find the time and patience I need to do a good job on this new fan fiction and actually finish it. I love horror and romance, so I've wanted to write a successful fan fiction that I can be happy with for quite a while.  I've rated this fic M for terror. If you've ever played any of the Silent Hill games, then you'd definitely know the reason why. Well, I'm off to write and get started with the story!! - )

Disclaimer: Both Avatar: The Last Airbender and Silent Hill are the wonderful ideas that belong to some other people . . . Unfortunately, I am not one of those people. 

Chapter One: In the beginning . . .

Appa flew through the star speckled sky, carrying a small group of exhausted and stressed kids. For the most part, Aang and Sokka had managed to find sleep while Toph had kept to herself, dozing off and quietly waking back up from time to time due to an occasional odd dream. But no matter the quietness of midnight and the serenity she felt under the moonlit sky, Katara couldn't manage to even keep her eyes closed long enough to doze. Her heart beat at a faster pace than usual, and the fact that Prince Zuko had betrayed his uncle back in Ba Sing Sei was heart wrenching. She thought Prince Zuko had changed . . . What had bothered the waterbender even more was the fact that Aang came so close to losing his life. Having been in the Avatar state, the whole world was at a huge risk to the avatar cycle being wiped from the face of the four nations. Katara couldn't imagine losing not only the Avatar, but one of the best friends that she ever had. Tears stinging her eyes, Katara used her hands to wipe the dampness away. She was in no mood to cry, and when she was little her father had told her that crying didn't change anything. With that, she curled up her knees against her chest and rested her head above them, wanting any bad thoughts to leave her restless mind.

As she sat motionlessly in the silver light, her thoughts had gone from Aang to the moment when she came so close to healing Prince Zuko's scar with the water she had from the oasis that was within the Northern Water Tribe. Katara was close to hating herself for believing that he had actually changed. A chill ran up her spine as she remembered being close enough to feel the warmth of Zuko's breath on her face as she was about to heal his scar. She had trusted him so much in so little time that Katara wanted to cry even more. How could she do such a thing to her friends and family?? Katara was hurt, and it hurt her even more to think that she had acted so foolish in the past. With Prince Zuko's help, Azula had almost successfully killed Aang.

Shifting her position, Katara looked back at the sleeping airbender, who occasionally tossed or muttered something in his sleep with Momo curled up close beside him. She then lifted her gaze towards the moon, whispering a prayer to the moon spirit to keep Aang, Sokka, and Toph safe. With a sigh, the waterbender turned away from the moon to a warm sleeping spot. As much as Katara had to worry about, she understood that sleep was essential for the long journey that the small group had ahead of them.

Just as her sapphire eyes closed, everyone on Appa was violently jerked upward. Katara gasped, coming to her hands and knees as she realized that everyone else was also awake from the surprise.

"What just happened?!" Sokka asked franticly as Aang looked around like Appa had just been shot by a fireball.

Appa grunted loudly, and Katara noticed a few dark figures flying high above them. Aang saw that Katara's attention had turned to the sky. "Katara? What are you . . ."

Everyone shouted as Appa jerked and moaned again, this time much louder. Aang's glider had been knocked overboard and fell down into a dark mass of trees. Momo held tightly to Aang's head as he chirped in fear of being separated from the young monk.

"Sokka, look out!" Katara shouted as one of the figures soared after him, nearly ramming into his head before he ducked just in time.

Toph sighed, "Oh, great! I can't see a thing, and now I have to worry about not being able to defend myself from whatever the heck is attacking us!!!"

The earthbender was cut short as Appa jerked again; trying to scare off whatever was attacking him. Despite the fact that Aang had been trying to help by shooting strong currents of air at the unidentified creatures, they seemed to not be interested in leaving. Even Katara shot the strongest water whips she could manage, but nothing seemed to work.

Soon enough, Appa had lost his energy and could hardly stay airborne. He moaned exhaustedly as Aang had realized that they were falling into the forest beneath them. "Hold on, everyone!!!"

Everyone shouted in horror as they fell down into total darkness, coming to a rough landing. The strange calls of the creatures that had attacked Appa echoed throughout the atmosphere as they left. They seemed to not be interested in flying anywhere near the forest, fortunately for the gang as they lied askew on the surface of the dense terrain of tall grass. Toph coughed, eventually coming to her feet with a sense of being safer since she could feel the cool earth against her feet once more. Aang and Sokka had both risen to their feet as well, panting hard from the scare. Even Momo had quickly collected himself, scurrying to the safety of the inside of Aang's shirt as Aang swiped the dirt from his clothes. The only one not active at all was Katara. A hard blow to her head had left her in a comatose state, and everyone had soon discovered that she was in need of help. Even Appa had a feeling that something was wrong and immediately felt that it was his fault for giving up. Sokka knelt beside his sister, remembering that it was his job to protect her while their father wasn't there for them because of the war. Examining the large cut on the side of Katara's head, Sokka felt terrible. As both he and Toph stayed by Katara's side, Aang had left to collect some water and perhaps return with an idea of a town they could rest and restock at the following day.

As bright light pierced through a lush canopy of trees, Katara's eyes fluttered open to a terrible pain in her head. Her hand automatically reached for the source of all the pain, only to find that it was a deep cut stained with blood. She moaned as she strained to lift her head so that she could sit up to get an idea of what had happened and if everyone was okay. Her blue eyes immediately noticed her brother, sitting nervously next to her as he caught a disturbing sight of the cut Katara had received.

"How do you feel?" He asked in a quiet voice, not wanting to wake up Toph, who was sleeping nearby. He felt stupid for asking such an obvious question. Without a doubt, Katara was in intense pain.

"Not so good . . ." Katara mumbled, bringing a hand to the cut on her head again.

"I can't believe I didn't think fast enough to grab you before Appa had actually started to fall! You probably wouldn't have been thrown so far. . ." Sokka sighed, looking down at the golden-green grass that was illuminated by the light coming in through the surface of the forest.

Katara shook her head with a smile on her face, placing her other hand on his shoulder. "Sokka, this isn't your fault! This isn't anyone's fault --- what happened last night was just bad luck. That's all. Besides, it's just a cut."

As much as Sokka felt like his sister's wound was his responsibility, he had to admit that she was right. The night that they had just gone through was definitely one of the worst. Katara was probably right about it all just being bad luck.

He nodded. "Aang went out to get some water for you and see if Momo could find a nearby town. I kinda worried about him, though. He's been out all night."

Katara looked behind her brother, seeing that Aang was walking towards them with water, glad that he was safe. Momo flew from his shoulder to Katara's side, rubbing affectionately against her in order to make her smile. He chirped in joy to see that it worked, and Aang felt better that his friend smiled the way she did, even with a painful cut. He placed a sack full of water in front of her. "Katara, I'm so glad you're awake!" Aang cheered quietly as her pulled her into a gentle hug.

"I'm just glad that you guys are okay." Katara answered happily after Aang let go of her to sit on the opposite side of Sokka.

She remembered her prayer and realized that the moon spirit, Yue, had heard her prayer and had protected her friends and her brother from harm. Katara didn't understand why she had been unfortunate enough to bang her head, but as far as she knew, Yue had protected her from death, which was definitely a much worse fate.

"I thought this would help since you have healing powers . . ." Aang said, looking at the water her brought for her. "Oh, and Momo found a town not too far from here! We should be able to get there today if everyone feels ready to leave soon. I think that Appa's still sleeping . . ."

The three chuckled as they turned to see that Aang's prediction had been correct, Appa snoring loudly enough to awaken Toph from her beauty sleep.

"Well, at least Toph's awake now!" Sokka said after he watched her sit up like a zombie, causing Aang to laugh.

"Thanks a lot, Appa." Toph groaned, stretching out her arms as a way of welcoming the morning.

Katara reached her dark hand into the sack of water. The cool, soothing liquid flowing evenly over her hand caused it to glow bright, neon blue creating somewhat of a water glove. The waterbender closed her eyes, hoping that her powers were strong enough to heal a wound so deep. She had never tried before, but she had discovered in the past that her powers always perfectly healed external wounds such as small cuts and burns. Katara didn't know what she could do for a larger, more serious wound, but she decided it was worth a try.

The water surrounding her hand felt so relieving against the cut. Sokka and Aang watched as Katara made an attempt to recover in hopes that she was successful. After moments ticked by, Katara hesitantly removed her hand from her skin. Sokka sighed reluctantly and Aang smiled cheerfully as they noticed her head no longer bared the cut she had received from the previous night.

"It worked, Katara!!!" Aang answered excitedly.

After everyone had awoken and had readied themselves for a trip to the town that Momo had discovered over night, they all decided that it would be best to just walk there instead of riding Appa. Despite the fact that the flying bison had gotten enough sleep, he was still weak from trying to fight off those strange creatures that had attacked him. Sokka had somehow managed to keep track of the map that they had all been relying on for their entire journey so far, staring at it with a confused look stretched across his face.

"Am I just reading the map upside down, or is this forest not on the map??" Sokka asked, causing everyone besides Toph to walk up next to him and examine the map for themselves.

"What? That doesn't make sense . . ." Aang muttered as he looked all over the map for any sign of the forest that they were in.

"We should be fine if we keep going straight. That's the direction that Momo went when he found the town we're looking for, right?" Katara asked Aang as his eyes still scanned over the map Sokka was holding.

"I'm pretty sure it was. I just wish that this place was on the map, just to be safe." Aang sighed. Turning away to look ahead of him, he noticed that the large cluster of trees seemed to get smaller. It made him feel a teeny bit better that even though they might not find the town, they would at least be out of the forest.

Sokka's stomach growled loudly, alerting the whole group that this was not a very good time at all to be lost.

"Uh-oh . . ." Toph joked, Sokka already pouting.

As Aang, Sokka, and Toph talked and laughed ahead of her, Katara walked slowly and soon started to linger behind. For some reason, she couldn't stop thinking about what happened in Ba Sing Sei. She kept replaying thoughts what had happened just a few days ago, and about how much she hated Zuko at the moment. Katara paused for a moment.

_Is this really how I feel? _She asked herself, feeling confused.

At the same time, a part of her wanted to like Prince Zuko. She _wanted_ to heal his scar . . .

"Katara, are you coming??? You're gonna get left behind!" Aang shouted back to her. Everyone stopped to let her catch up.

Sitting in the cold and uncomfortable cell that Azula had placed him in, Iroh was alone with so much on his mind about Prince Zuko. He hadn't spoken to his nephew once since he had been so hurtfully betrayed, despite the fact that Prince Zuko had been sneaking food to his uncle for the past few days. Iroh thought of how he had cried when the day of his son's birthday came around, and he felt that his heart had been broken too deeply to even shed a tear, no matter how much it hurt. No matter what, Iroh would never stop loving Zuko. He was a son to him, and if it meant he had to accept that Zuko chose a new path for his life, he was willing to. But that didn't mean that Iroh wasn't deeply disappointed and shocked by his nephew's actions. Azula had somehow managed to get inside Zuko's head, tricking him into believing that he would truly be accepted into the Firenation once again as the Prince and someday as the Firelord he was born to become.

Closing his eyes, he could only hope that Prince Zuko would come to his senses and realize that in reality, he would never be accepted by his father. It was too much to imagine what Zuko's mother would think of him now, fighting for the capture of the Avatar by his sister's side.

Trying to take his mind off of Azula, Iroh began to sing the same song he had sung for Lu Ten on his birthday, slowly and quietly.

Zuko had stood near the entrance of the dungeon in which his uncle was being held, on his way to bring Uncle Iroh another tray of food when he heard a familiar song.

His heart sank, and Prince Zuko turned away, feeling lost and pulled in two different directions.

Katara hummed to herself as the group of wandering children made their way through the brightly lit forest. As they walked onward, flowers like panda lilies and golden poppies began to speckle the ground in cute little clusters. Katara smiled as she walked through the flowers. Despite the fact that she had so much on her mind before, Katara began to try as hard as she could to cheer up. She had noticed that whenever she was in a good mood, they all were, especially Aang.

"Hey, look at that. . ." Aang pointed straight ahead of him in between a few smaller trees.

"What is it, Aang?" Toph asked curiously, making Katara snap back from her thoughts about being happy for her friends.

"That's it!" Aang cheered, seeing a town in the distance. Momo flew ahead of the group, excited about finally being away from the thick dense area of trees to a more open surrounding.

Sokka moaned hungrily, already thinking about stuffing his face with some food, his stomach growling like it had earlier. Even Toph was happy to finally be in town. She was ready to get a good rest after sleeping on the ground all night long. Slipping through the final trees that separated the town from the forest, the gang had made it, fortunately without getting lost after all. They all examined the town stretched out in front of them, with houses, shops, and what looked like a large hotel to the farthest edge of town judging by a sign that displayed an advertisement for it. Katara seemed to be the only one to notice the tall, creepy sign that stood eerily in front of the first shop to the left.

_Welcome to Silent Hill_

At an instant, pain shot through the area where Katara's cut had been, causing her to gasp and grab her head.

Feeling a hand on her shoulder, Katara blinked and looked up at the face of her brother. "Katara?"

The waterbender shook her head. "That was so strange . . . It almost felt like the cut reappeared!" Katara explained to Sokka.

"I think you need some rest, Katara." Sokka answered as he yawned.

"I guess so . . . You seem to be a bit tired, yourself."

"Come on, you two. We need to get going so that we can all get rooms in that hotel. I'm dying for a nice, relaxing bed!" Toph groaned, walking ahead of the siblings. Katara and Sokka followed, first making sure that Appa was behind them. Katara looked over her shoulder one last time at the sign, assuming that the pain she had felt was just a strange coincidence.

As they walked, people watched them strangely. Katara was beginning to feel nervous about not thinking of telling Aang to hide the arrow on his head. Aang looked back at her, looking just as unsure as she was nervous. They kept walking, trying the best they could to ignore the strangers that watched them. Katara realized that no one seemed to be happy that the avatar was there. Usually, people cheered and introduced themselves to him. Not these people . . .

"_Creepy_ . . ." Sokka said in a low voice to his sister, who was still searching for at least one smiling face.

Katara began to listen to the humming sound of voices chit-chatting away, music being played near shops, laughter from little kids playfully chasing each other down the dirt street. Looking up to expect a blue, clear sky, Katara was surprised to see that the sky appeared to be stirring up a thunder storm. The sky was a pale grey and the clouds were dark and larger than before. She sighed. _Why couldn't today at least be a bright and colorful day? _She remembered how the forest had looked when she had first opened her eyes that morning. Everything looked so bright and welcoming. Now, it was all so different.

Making their way through the small crowd of people, the gang had eventually reached the hotel at the far side of town. Katara was relieved to be away from the strangers who seemed to not even care that the Avatar existed.

Everyone went ahead as Aang stayed outside to find a spot for Appa and Momo to stay while he and the others stayed in rooms in the hotel.

Prince Zuko sat quietly in the Earth Kingdom temple, away from his sister, who was perfectly at home in the Earth King's throne. Azula had previously sent out a few men from the Dai Li to find out where the avatar was currently headed, or in her words, where the avatar was "hiding." Azula sat at the throne proudly, a familiar smirk never leaving her face. Zuko didn't know why she had chosen to stare at him --- naturally, this would make anyone uncomfortable, but he had other things on his mind that were more important than his sister's staring habits.

Sneaking food to Uncle Iroh had been a tricky task. Being under the careful watch of his sister, Zuko decided to call his absences "bathroom breaks". Azula was no fool, but fortunately for him, it seemed that she actually believed his lies. She had not planned to starve her uncle, but Zuko knew that Azula put herself first and everyone else last. She only mentioned Iroh when Zuko had started to feel guilty about betraying him, saying that Iroh was the one who had betrayed him instead.

Meanwhile, Ty Lee was doing awkward stretches and being her normal self, which always seemed to bore Mai no matter what crazy flips or turns she performed.

"Azula, aren't we going to start are search for the avatar soon?" Ty Lee asked, deciding to stand right side up after doing a handstand and walking like that for a few moments.

The room they were in was dark, and the only light source was the few wall torches that Azula had lit herself. She never liked bright rooms, she told the others. Mai had agreed with her, causing Ty Lee to roll her eyes at the two girls. She never understood how Mai could be so boring.

Ty Lee noticed Azula's torch lit smirk. "Soon, Ty Lee. Once I get the news about the avatar's whereabouts I was promised, _we'll set out for our little hunt_."

Zuko sat quietly with no reply to Azula. She had no idea how much guilt he was starting to feel. No matter how hard he tried, Prince Zuko couldn't forget Iroh's voice replaying itself again and again in his mind.

A voice in the back of his thoughts told him that Azula was playing another one of her tricks on him like she had before. He didn't want to believe it, no matter how realistic it sounded to him.

_What am I thinking? _Zuko asked himself. He felt so close to getting what he'd been striving for all of his life . . .

His fathers love.

Everybody had gotten separate rooms in the hotel, Katara being placed in room 302. Falling backwards on her bed, she sighed in relief. It was nice to have a bed to sleep on for once. Katara's eyes grew heavy, slowly blinking shut. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt so comfortable.

Katara didn't know how long they would all be staying in Silent Hill, but she knew that it couldn't be too long. Despite being out in the middle of nowhere, Katara felt that they were never hard to track down behind the eyes of a determined firebender.

Sleep getting the best of her, her thoughts slipped just as the sky seemed to clear, letting the sun warm the surface of her skin as it had many times before, shining brightly through her window.

An hour had drifted by before Katara began to have a strange dream. This time, it didn't consist of Prince Zuko or the war. Not even Aang.

She was surrounded by darkness, and she was cold and terrified. Goosebumps decorated her skin as she shivered, crouching on a damp, hotel floor. She was in some sort of room that looked oddly like her hotel room. As her vision cleared, she noticed that several candles filled the entire bedroom. _Who could've done this?_

After blinking several times, Katara noticed that in the dim light of the room, the walls were covered in blood and rust. Her head heart, but only enough to feel as if her sinuses had been irritated and the aches and pains were just lingering. There was a girl standing in front of her, covered in bloody clothes that were old and torn.

"Who are you??" Katara asked, wondering why everything was so bloody as she spoke.

The girl didn't answer. Instead, she pointed behind Katara.

The candles in the room flickered as the waterbender heard something approaching her from behind. She had no idea what it was, but Katara felt too horrified to turn around and look.

Whatever was approaching her sounded like a small child crying, and Katara instantly felt somewhat relieved.

"_A little boy_???" Katara wondered aloud as the girl pointing disappeared without her noticing.

The boy wiped the tears from his eyes with one hand while the other rested naturally at his side. Katara knelt down in front of him.

"Are you okay?" Katara felt that she probably wouldn't get an answer this time either. Everything in this dream was just so strange . . .

To her surprise, the little boy sniffled as he answered. "My mommy won't wake up."

Katara didn't understand what a woman and her son would be doing in a place like this, but she wasn't going to leave the boy all alone.

"Is she hurt?" Katara asked, watching the boy as he began to fidget with something in his pocket.

"No. Mommy is just sleeping." The boy looked up at Katara's face. As soon as their eyes met, Katara cried out in pain due to a terrible headache that seemed to emit from the boy.

Katara knelt even further to the floor, her head in her hands. The little boy watched, enjoying the scene. The floor around Katara began to darken, growing more and more gruesome to look at.

"Her name is Alessa --- Alessa Gillespie."

Katara's heart pounded.

_What is happening to me?!_

Strangely enough, her headache disappeared for the boy was gone. Opening her eyes, Katara was back where she was before she had fallen asleep, safely in her normal hotel room.

She shot up from the warmth of her bed instantly, checking the walls. To her relief, there was no blood or rust. Instead, she felt something in her hand. Katara picked up a small doll that was blood-stained --- just how she had expected her walls to be. It smiled eerily, sending a frightening sensation throughout Katara's body. She didn't feel safe anymore.

Katara threw the doll to the floor, scared and confused. She was at a loss for words and wondered how on earth the doll had ended up in her hand.

This time, she couldn't think of an excuse to calm her down.

Remembering the boy from her dream, Katara stared at the doll nervously.

_Her name is Alessa --- Alessa Gillespie._

Katara began to wonder if going to Silent Hill was ever a good idea in the first place. Too frightened to move, she cradled her legs against her chest, just as she did the night before.

Due to her fear of having another nightmare, Katara didn't sleep that night. Instead, she had practiced her waterbending outside where Appa and Momo were left to sleep. Katara used the water Aang had gotten in the forest until early sunrise. Her motions weren't as swift and fluid as they usually were. Katara's hands shook, and her mind clouded. Her nightmare haunted her, only because of its strangeness and the fact that she found a doll covered with blood in her hand --- she believed it to have somehow been from her dream.

The waterbender wondered why she would dream about two people that she had never met before. She didn't understand her headaches, either. Katara couldn't find reasonable answers.

"How am I going to explain this to everyone?" Katara asked herself. Perhaps she would just show them the doll, and explain to them that she didn't feel safe anymore.

_Would they think I was just overreacting? _

Feeling exhausted, Katara directed the water back into her canteen that she had placed it in before the she had left with the others on their trip to Silent Hill.

"Katara? What are you doing outside so early?" A friendly voice asked.

Turning on heel, Katara quickly ran to Aang and pulled him into a huge hug.

"I don't know where to start. . ." Katara said quietly, Aang's face scrunched up in confusion.

Stepping back, Katara looked at her friend, who felt concerned for her.

"What happened, Katara?" Aang asked.

"Aang, I know this is gonna sound crazy, but you have to believe me." Katara started, hoping that Aang would take her seriously.

"You can talk to me about anything. _Please tell me what happened_!"

"Well . . . _I think that room my room is haunted_." Katara answered quietly.

(A/N: There wasn't much Zutara I could put in my first chapter, but since I'm a HUGE Zutara shipper, there will certainly be a lot more as the story progresses. There is also the fact that I have to keep everyone true to their characters. I didn't plan for the first chapter to be scary yet --- my next chapter will be the beginning of the "terror" that makes up Silent Hill. (o) Yay!!! I'll be introducing a few monsters that tend to be the scariest part of Silent Hill . . . Mwahahahah!!! lol, Band does things to ya.  I just joined my school's band in January. Well, I should get started on my next chapter!)

TTFN


	2. Maybe This is Just a Dream

Silent Hill

Chapter Two: Maybe This is Just a Dream

"I can't _**believe**_ they didn't believe me!" Katara stressed, standing bravely alone in her hotel room.

Her arms crossed, she stood with her back to the front door.

The only news Katara felt satisfied with was when the superintendent said that since Aang was the avatar, he would let them all stay free of charge for however long they needed. Of course, Aang assured the superintendent that they wouldn't be staying for too long.

The superintendent had also needed help with a new sign for the hotel that he wanted to read "Ashfield Heights." Sokka had asked if he could be of any help by painting a new sign himself, and the super thankfully smiled and said he had appreciated the help. Sokka had gotten the simple job as a way to earn easy money for food and other supplies.

Katara sighed, feeling silly and childish for believing that her hotel room was actually being haunted and that the super had to explain to her that there had been an old doll lying on the bed for the past week.

Perhaps she had grabbed a hold of it in her sleep.

Katara's imagination had led her to believe that the doll was blood-stained, when in reality it had simply been just on old, dirty, raggedy doll.

The waterbender explained her silly fears and her nightmare to Aang and then later to Sokka and Toph. They listened with patience, Sokka explaining to Katara that maybe her dream had just really frightened her into her profound beliefs.

"Well . . ." Katara started, her deep blue eyes slowly scanning the gray bedroom walls surrounding her. "…Maybe Sokka was right."

_I probably was imagining those things. _

A knock at her door, Katara's head snapped up at the moment of the sound. Opening the door to reveal the smiling face of an earthbender, Katara couldn't help but smile in return.

"Hey, Katara! We're going to look around in some of the shops for a little while just to see what we can find here." Toph replied. "Wanna come?"

Katara nodded. "Sure --- why not? I'd love to get out for a little while."

The Dai Li had returned with Azula's desired information about Aang's current hiding place. Preferring to speak with them alone, Azula had taken the two men outside and away from Prince Zuko's hearing range. Both Ty Lee and Mai grew anxious to hear the news, sneaking the closest to the conversation that they possibly could without being noticed.

Seeking out the perfect moment, Zuko slipped away through the shadows and made his way quietly down to the dungeons where his Uncle was being kept.

Iroh simply looked up at his nephew as he quickly walked in front of his cell, jamming a key into the large metal-plated lock. "Prince Zuko, where did you get the key???" Iroh asked with a scrunched brow, surprised at his nephew's course of action.

"Uncle, just follow me. And quickly!" Zuko rushed Iroh to his feet, running swiftly through a secret exit through a hidden hall Zuko had discovered on his frequent trips that he had made to the dungeon. Bringing food to his uncle, he had once accidentally made a detour.

It had been a long day. Katara had grown so exhausted from her recent lack of sleep that she didn't seem to care at the moment about having another nightmare. Or at least that's what she told herself. She had personally decided to keep the doll out of sight, sitting it on the farthest side of her bedroom . . . AWAY from her bed. With that, she snuggled up underneath warm blankets and did the best she could to brush off any eerie thoughts of the strange doll. A quick moment after resting her head on the cool, fluffy pillow, Katara couldn't open her eyes anymore due to her weariness and quickly fell asleep.

Instead of bloody walls or unimaginable pain, Katara's dreams took her back to Ba Sing Sei. She was the one crying this time --- seemingly crying about her mother. Katara cradled her legs like she usually did, avoiding eye contact with a boy just merely a few feet away from her.

She was telling him through sobs that the Firenation took away her mother.

When the boy didn't reply, Katara lifted her pitiful gaze in his direction.

Instead of Zuko being the boy sitting across from her, it was the little boy from her nightmare.

"I lost my mommy when I was just a baby." The boy began, coming to his feet.

Katara gasped, scooting backwards towards the cave wall. "You're . . . that boy . . ."

The water bender averted her eyes, not wanting to witness another headache.

The boy nodded. "Will you help me find her again?"

Katara froze. "I thought you meant that your mother . . . _passed away_. How can we find her?" Katara asked, confused.

"You'll see."

Eyes snapping open to the light of day, Katara shot up in an instant. Not ready for the sight ahead of her, she gasped in shock. Heart pounding, Katara felt feint. Her blood ran cold and a crisp chill filled the atmosphere.

There were chains strewn and bolted across the inside of her door. Holding her shaky hands to her mouth, she carefully and cautiously neared the patchwork of chains.

A bloody trio of words breathed their presence into the door's dark exterior, sounding a chilling whisper of someone exhaling air.

**Don't Go Out**

Running towards the secret exit, Prince Zuko occasionally peeked over his shoulder to see if his uncle was keeping up. Just as Zuko reached a close distance to the already opened door, it was slammed shut by a man who had just entered. With a blank expression on his face, the man watched as Prince Zuko and Iroh came to a sudden halt in front of him, who was blocking them from the exit.

The man smiled, amused by Zuko's angered expression.

"Get out of my way!" Zuko commanded, noticing something out of the corner of his eye after he had spoken.

The man was holding a small axe, covered in blood. At the instant Zuko noticed the weapon looked as if it had been used, his heart pace quickened. A terrible intense pain shot through the temples in his head as he looked up into the man's face. He cried out in agony, stumbling to the floor with his hands over his head as if it would burst.

Iroh shot out his hand, producing a bright flame that he had hoped to knock the man down with. The man didn't move, letting himself be caught on fire as if he could feel no pain. Iroh had never seen such a thing in his entire life, and was caught unexpectedly off guard.

The man placed his hand on Iroh's shoulder. His touch was unbearably painful, and Iroh couldn't remember the last time he had felt dead on his feet if there ever was a time.

Whispering unhearable words beneath his breath, the man let go of Iroh, letting him fall unconsciously to the floor.

"Soon, Mother . . ." The man whispered, opening the door behind him.

Looking down at the two unconscious bodies that lied before him, he led them to a forest he particularly called "The Red Forest", remembering how the blood of his past victims had stained the leaves of trees and their blood-hurdling screams echoed throughout the fog covered atmosphere.

His mother would be reborn through the Ritual of the Holy Assumption, and he had never felt closer to his destiny. . .

No matter what she did, nobody seemed to hear her cries for help. Her screams didn't seem to be enough, and neither did her decision to slam her hands repeatedly against the door. Katara sobbed, tears flowing down her face as her attempts to get help grew even weaker and weaker.

"Why c-can't you h-hear me?" Katara whimpered, sliding hopelessly to the floor.

She was horrified beyond her wildest dreams. Katara had hoped with all of her heart that everything was all just another nightmare that she would wake up from at any given moment. Closing her eyes, Katara had collected her emotions enough to say another prayer.

"Yue, please . . . help me through this nightmare . . ." Katara began, her heart nearly stopping when she heard a heavenly sent sound ringing in her ears.

Sokka was knocking at the door. "Katara, are you awake? Hello?! Katara???"

The waterbender shot up quicker than she had ever done and her head began to spin. "Sokka!!! I'm right here --- can you hear me?" Katara banged on the door in strong hopes that he heard her.

"Katara? Open your door!" Sokka was starting to wonder if Katara was in her room at all.

"Sokka! My door is chained from the inside! **I can't come out**!!!" A tear ran down her face as her brother once again called out her name, knocking on her door. It was no hope.

Katara was trapped inside room 302 with no chance of leaving any time soon.

Sokka grew worried. He had to tell the others that Katara wasn't answering her door, and he had enough common sense to know that Katara would never ignore him like that, let alone sleep through loud bangs. He was positive that she was inside, but somehow . . . it seemed like her door was locked and that Katara couldn't get the door open, herself.

The super had all of the keys to the hotel rooms, so Sokka figured that it would be a great thing to try if the super could use the key for room 302 to get Katara's door unlocked for her.

"Katara, I don't know if you can hear me, but I'm going to get the superintendent to try to get your door open! _I wish I knew what was going on_ . . ."

With those words, Katara's heart sank as she listened to her brother walk away. She couldn't help but wonder if she would ever escape her apartment room. Katara would give anything to see her friends again.

Slowly rising to her feat, she examined the message on the door.

"_How could I possibly leave with all of these chains_ . . ."

A violent explosion sounded in the bathroom that was across the small hallway from her bedroom, both being inside room 302. Katara wandered what had just happened, not letting fear get in the way of any kind of escape.

She had secretly hoped that maybe the Firenation was attacking the hotel because they had found out about Aang being there and that her room had been hit with one of their attacks. Katara had almost made herself smile at how silly she realized that sounded as she said it again in her mind.

Walking cautiously out into the small hallway that connected the bathroom to her bedroom, Katara opened the door with any already wide-eyed approach. There in the side of her bathroom wall, a very large hole had been embedded. It was dark and damp, and as Katara froze at the hint of there being someone in the hole, she heard faint noises of children's voices echoing throughout the tunnel.

Taking a deep breath, the waterbender decided to crawl inside the hole. She first examined a pipe sticking out of the wall from where the hole had started, yanking it the rest of the way out as it appeared to make a good weapon for defense. Katara no longer had the canteen full of water with her --- she had let Toph drink it while they were looking through the town shops. Katara had somehow forgotten to refill it.

"Just my luck . . ." Katara huffed, staring down at the rusty, sharp-edged pipe that she held firmly in her hand.

Not knowing what to expect on the other side, Katara lifted herself up into the hole's entrance, becoming swallowed up by its darkness. The only thing guiding her was a bright light at the very end of the tunnel, which had Katara imagining it as a pathway to freedom.

She pressed forward, dragging her body through the other side. Stepping slowly and cautiously out onto the stained concrete floor, Katara realized that she had been led to a subway station. She had never seen one before, but had heard about them in stories about the Earth Kingdom using underground subways to transport several people to Ba Sing Sei at a time.

Even refugees were known to use the subways quite often, as it was a quick way to the safety of the city.

Katara examined a long stretch of stairs that lied before her, taking them to a lower elevation. As her eyes examined the walls of the subway station, Katara felt that there was something different about the place. There were large, bent up gates that blocked several intersecting halls, all leading to separate rooms that Katara didn't exactly think were a good idea to try to reach. She still wondered why they had been blocked off so urgently. It seemed that someone was desperate to hide something . . .

Katara noticed that the lamps that hung on the ceiling of the subway station weren't enough to decently light the halls, and she had come to a pitch dark part of the hall she was venturing. She was thankful that there was light when Katara turned the corner, walking down a new hall.

There was someone ahead, and it seemed as if the person was lost. Katara had realized that the person was a woman who looked to be just over twenty, strangely walking back and forth in a thinking frenzy.

"Thank goodness that I'm not the only one stuck down here!" Katara exclaimed quietly, not wanting to disturb the stranger ahead of her.

Feeling leaves pressing into his back and prickling his hands, Prince Zuko opened his eyes to a gray, stormy sky that painted the scenery behind a canopy of tall trees. He felt as if he had been asleep for hours, trying to remember what had happened the last time he was awake.

Remembering the terrible pain throughout his head that had caused him to black out, Zuko shot up from his resting spot in fear. To his relief, his uncle was already awake, sitting next to a fire he had made in order to keep warm in the chilling climate of the forest that was unknown to Zuko.

"I'm glad to see that you're awake, Prince Zuko." Iroh smiled calmly, moving from the fire to his nephew's side.

Meeting his uncle's face, Zuko looked away in guilt and shame. He had so much he wanted to say to his uncle about how sorry he was for everything that had just recently happened.

"I forgive you, Zuko."

Iroh understood how his nephew felt, even without being told. He simply smiled at Zuko, who turned around with a somewhat of a surprised look on his face.

"_How_?" Zuko asked under his breath. "I don't even want to forgive myself for . . . _betraying_ you, Uncle Iroh." Zuko cringed with the word "betraying", feeling so angry at himself for falling, once again, for his sister's lies.

"Don't go through the rest of your life without forgiving yourself for the mistakes you make. I understand that you wanted to earn you father's love back." Iroh replied, placing a reassuring hand on his nephew's shoulder. "And I will never think of you as anyone else other than my son, no matter what your choices are."

"Thank you, Uncle Iroh." Zuko had, for the first time in a while, been able to smile again. As much as he wanted to hate himself, Zuko knew in his heart that Iroh's words were true.

"It's been hard for me to accept it, but lately I've begun to realize that I never had my father's love and respect that I drove myself to capture the avatar for. _I never will_."

Frowning, Iroh felt that Zuko had thought a lot while in Ba Sing Sei. He felt that Zuko would take a while to fully recover from his discovery for his heart was broken and Prince Zuko had no idea for his future.

"My brother's never understood what it is like to have a deep love and concern for other people, the most important being family. Sadly, Azula is his mirror image, and I feel that she will also never be able to truly love someone other than herself."

Zuko nodded, trying to cope with a side of his father that he didn't want to know was true.

The prince and his uncle sat alone in the quietness of the forest, thoughts overflowing in their minds. In the silence, Iroh could hear a very slight mumble of distant voices. He realized that it may have been coming from a nearby town, which meant a place to stay and to get descent rest.

Telling Zuko about his discovery, the two headed off through the thick brush of trees and fog to the sound of people.

"Do you know how we ended up in this place??" Zuko asked, turning to Iroh as he walked.

"Now that I think about it, I'm not quite sure. I think it might have something to do with that strange man in the coat we saw." Remembering the pain that seemed to emit from the man's hand, Iroh winced.

"I wonder why I got that terrible headache when I tried to see his face . . ." Zuko replied, a strange feeling that they were being followed.

"So . . . _you think this is a dream_?" Katara asked the woman.

"Yeah, and a terrible one, too." Cynthia replied, watching Katara's face turn into utter confusion. "What else would it be??"

Looking around, Katara didn't know how to answer Cynthia's question. Maybe everything was just a terrible dream . . .

Katara sighed. "We should stick together --- just in case." Katara eventually said, looking down at the weapon she held.

"Good --- I was beginning to wonder when I'd be able to look around for a change. I mean, without feeling unsafe. I'll follow you." she replied, stepping behind Katara.

Katara gulped, not knowing what to expect at all whatsoever. She inched her way forward, first with small steps, then eventually with larger, braver steps. Katara felt that the woman behind her felt just as frightened. At least they didn't have to be alone.

Katara walked down a new hall she had just turned on, nearing a bathroom --- two separate rooms for women and men. The waterbender froze as she turned around to the sound of Cynthia feeling nauseated.

"I think I'm gonna puke!" She stumbled, holding onto her stomach as she walked at a quick pace through the bathroom door.

Katara could only wait for her, standing in patience with her back against the wall that stood parallel to the bathrooms.

_I hope she's okay . . ._

Standing in front of Katara's door, Sokka had explained to Toph and Aang what was wrong and they had told the super of their problem. The superintendent was glad to help, finding the key that he needed for room 302 and inserting it into the room's doorknob. For moment, it budged around noisily on the inside of the lock, clicking and popping. With difficulty pulling the key to the room back out, the superintendent grunted at the strange fact that the key wasn't working. He examined the key, double checking the room number it was intended for.

"That's strange . . . The lock won't budge." He banged on the door. "Hello! Can you hear me??"

"That doesn't seem to work." Sokka sighed. "I don't understand what's going on!"

Aang frowned. "Don't worry, Sokka. I have a feeling that Katara is okay, whatever is going on. We're going to find a way to open this door --- I'm sure of it!"

Deep down inside, Aang felt just as worried for Katara. He wasn't sure at all if they would get her door open any time soon. Aang could only hope for her safety, whatever was happening on the other side of the locked door.

Feeling that Cynthia had been in the bathroom for a bit too long, Katara began to grow worried.

Everything was so quiet and lonely . . .

Heart nearly leaping out of her chest, Katara watched as the men's restroom door creaked open, not yet revealing who was on the other side. She never saw anyone enter the bathroom, not knowing what to expect to come out of hiding.

Two large, monster-like dogs charged out of the bathroom, strangely roaring like jaguars. Jumping in horror, Katara quickly moved out of the way, watching as the creatures killed and began to suck the blood from one of their own kind with their tongue like suction tubes.

Readying her weapon, Katara crept up behind the sniffer closest to her and hit it as hard as she could with the pipe she held. Crying out in pain, the sniffer roared, turning around to charge at the terrified waterbender.

It hit her before she knew it. Katara fell to the floor, two sniffers pulling violently at her clothes and snapping at her arms. Blade like teeth cut into her skin like a knife through butter, causing Katara to scream.

"Get off me!!!" Katara shouted, shoving the pipe forcefully at one of the sniffers attacking her. Fortunately, it was enough to knock it over. The sniffer yelped and struggled on the floor, squirming as it suffered. Katara didn't hesitate to finish it off with one final blow, leaving only one more to defeat.

The sniffer roared, charging at her only to be painfully hit by the edge of Katara's pipe. It, too, fell to the floor, squirming as the other sniffer had before it.

Katara didn't even have to think about killing it. She had stabbed the pipe through it faster than she thought she would react to something so unordinary.

Falling to her knees, Katara breathed heavily. She had never seen something so disturbing to look at --- so unreal. Their flesh appeared to be rotting. Looking at the dead monsters, Katara's teeth clenched at the bite she had received. Her left arm throbbed terribly, and Katara didn't have anything to heal her wound with.

She had feared that the scent of blood would attract more of those creatures, forcing her to risk her life killing them as well.

"Just what I need! First, I find out that I'm stuck in this weird place, and then I find that there are monsters here, too. This is insane ..." Katara looked to the men's bathroom door, her heart pumping faster as she had feared to see what else was inside.

Stumbling to her feet, Katara walked into the women's bathroom.

"Cynthia?"

Azula was furious once she was told that the Avatar had gone to a place off of the map, threatening them to find a better answer.

"B-But Princess! It's impossible to find news about his exact location. He's decided to just . . . disappear!!!"

Azula grunted, her arms crossed in irritation. "You are useless to me. I've come to find that perhaps you're not trying hard enough, so there's no point in wasting any more precious time. I'll find the Avatar myself . . ."

"What about us?" Ty Lee asked, Mai wondering the same question as the two walked outside.

". . . And of course with the help of you both." Azula finished, a smirk spread across her face. "Let's get started, girls. We have a long trip ahead of us."

Azula whistled for their uses of transportation to come to them, being large lizard-like animals. They were quick and agile, being able to reach far distances at a quick pace.

Taking off into the distance, the man in the coat watched them, this time wielding a blood-stained pickaxe known as the "Pickaxe of Despair." Smiling, he turned and walked away, simply disappearing into the shadows.

Welcoming the new customers, the superintendent had given both Prince Zuko and Iroh their room numbers.

Being later in the night, Sokka, Toph, and Aang had been told that they would try to find out what was wrong with Katara's room the next morning. It had taken a while to convince them that they had to wait, remembering how Sokka had wanted to try with the key, himself.

With that, the super had told them that he had a long story to tell them about room 302. He remembered how the last person who stayed in that room had the same problem . . .

And was never seen again.

He hadn't expected the same thing to happen twice in a row, especially since he believed that the murderer had been arrested some time ago.

"Thank you, Mr. Sunderland." Iroh said gratefully to the superintendent, walking to his room, which was right beside Zuko's.

Once reaching his own door, Zuko read the number to himself.

"Room 303"

(A/N: Okay . . . so maybe I couldn't add as many monsters as I thought I'd be able to in this chapter. The sniffers were a start, though! Be ready for more, coming up soon in my next chapter. ;)

TTFN


	3. Room of Angel

Silent Hill

(A/N: I just wanted to thank varjak for the helpful review she left. . I was so happy to learn how to spell "Yue" correctly!!! D I was really clueless . . . I edited my chapters so that I could add some capitalizations, too ;) Thanks, again!)

Chapter Three: Room of Angel

Each one of the bathroom stalls had been left opened, and there was no sign of Cynthia anywhere. As Katara neared the farthest stall from the bathroom door, she noticed a large hole with some sort of writing around its perfectly circular structure. This hole had also been embedded in the wall, this time being at the subway station.

Katara began to wonder if Cynthia had entered this hole out of curiosity, and she decided to venture inside, hoping to find her.

"I wonder where this leads too . . ." Katara thought aloud quietly as she climbed into the darkened tunnel, crawling to its end.

Vision blurred, Katara's eyes blinked open to reveal that she was back in her bed.

"What???" Katara shook her head, rubbing her eyes with the back of her fists.

"Was I . . . really in that lady's dream?" She asked herself, staring at her bedroom in disbelief.

Before she knew it, she was clenching her head in terrible pain as a strange noise echoed throughout her temples. The sound seemed to be that of metal being shredded along with someone screaming amongst the already deafening noise.

"_Where . . . did you . . . go?" _A struggling voice whispered in the depth of all the strange sounds.

After what seemed an eternity, the noises faded and Katara's vision was completely restored. The waterbender quickly moved from the surface of her bed.

"That voice sounded like Cynthia!" Katara exclaimed to herself, her eyes coming to a stop on something halfway underneath her doorway. Lifting the old, torn paper in her hands, Katara's eyes began to scan what was written on the paper's surface.

"Through the Ritual of the Holy

Assumption, he built a world.

It exists in a space separate from

the world of our Lord.

More accurately, it is within, yet

without the Lord's world.

Unlike the world of our Lord,

it is a world in extreme flux.

Unexpected doors or walls,

moving floors, odd creatures,

a world only he can control...

Anyone swallowed up by that world

will live there for eternity, undying.

They will haunt that realm as a spirit.

How can our Lord forgive such an

abomination...?"

Katara realized that certain parts of the script had been too damaged to read as she quickly searched for a legible part of the paragraph she had just ended on.

"...It is important to travel lightly in that

world. He who carries too heavy

a burden will regret it..."

Eyebrows scrunched up in confusion, Katara could only think that the "world" the paper she was holding referred to was indeed the subway place she had recently discovered. Katara had remembered the strange creatures she had come in contact with, immediately looking down at her arm.

"So . . . I guess I wasn't in that girl's dream, after all." Katara assumed as she noticed the cut on her arm. It didn't seem to hurt nearly as much as it did in the subway place, and Katara thought that maybe that was the reason why she didn't notice it right away.

"But, who would create such a horrible place, and for what reason?"

Re-reading the last paragraph on the paper she continued to hold on to, Katara shuddered. Taking a deep breath, she grabbed her only weapon, journeying down through the portal to the "Otherworld", which still remained in her bathroom wall.

Standing in front of Katara's door once again, Sokka had refused to give up on his sister. He had no idea of the chains that locked her inside room 302, and be believed that he would somehow manage to get the lock on her door to budge. Toph and Aang stood behind him, in hopes to support him. Aang felt a strangely different atmosphere whenever he stood in front of room 302 which made him feel scared and uneasy. He felt as if someone was watching their every actions and choices, perhaps feeling pity towards them at how miserable they all looked.

Sokka sighed, turning towards the two standing quietly behind him. Frowning, Aang decided to look at the floor as Toph stayed still.

"Don't you think we would've heard Katara shouting for help if she was stuck in her room?" Toph asked, causing Sokka to frown.

"Well, there has to be something wrong! That's exactly why we can't hear her!!" Sokka explained, looking frustratingly at the door.

"Something tells me that she's definitely stuck in there, but I have no idea why we can't hear her." Aang muttered, still looking at the floor.

Walking up behind the small group of kids, the superintendent felt extremely guilty for ever letting anyone stay in that room. It wasn't the first time that someone had been locked up inside.

"The man who stayed in that room before Katara ended up the same way. No one could ever hear him calling for help or even banging on the door to get our attention. Just like his door, the windows to his room were also locked. Peering inside his windows was always useless as you could never see anything."

The gang turned around, intent on listening to the super's story. They were all dying for an explanation.

Continuing with his story, the super spoke on about how the troubles with room 302 came to be. "People knew him by the name of Joseph Schreiber, who, as far as I know, was a journalist. He did many reports on a nearby orphanage called "Wish House", saying how the orphanage was run by a cult and that they were brainwashing the children who stayed there. It was later shut down, due to the fact that police had investigated further into Schreiber's report on Wish House, only to find that he had been correct. Of course, this had taken place only days before he had somehow been locked inside his room."

As the super talked about the history of room 302, Prince Zuko and his Uncle had heard Sokka trying to open the door earlier, watching and listening curiously and anxiously to the group as they spoke with the superintendent.

Zuko had wondered how both he and his uncle had been lucky enough to find the Avatar, but then he realized that he wasn't trying to capture him any longer. He wasn't used to acting casually around the monk, simply because he had never had a descent run in with the boy. Zuko began to wonder what it would be like to be by the Avatar's side, shaking his head soon afterwards at the idea.

Prince Zuko would've never imagined himself even thinking of such a thing, but looking back at his uncle, Zuko's mind was made up.

He realized that even though it would take him a while to get warmed up to the group, especially the Avatar, he knew that the boy needed to master firebending. Zuko quietly snorted at the thought of actually trying to teach the Avatar himself and thought that maybe his uncle wouldn't mind.

Perhaps he could gain the Avatar's trust if he could somehow figure out how to help the waterbender that he traveled with. From the looks of it, it seemed that she was stuck in her room and the room's key was of no use. She wasn't answering her brother's shouts to her either, apparently.

Having the challenge of finding the waterbender in the first place, Zuko would also have the challenge of gaining her trust as well. Raising a hand up to his scar, Prince Zuko remembered how the girl had wanted to help him. She was so close to using the water she had retrieved from the oasis to heal him . . .

"Joseph Schreiber was murdered in that room, and police discovered that the numbers 15121 were carved into his upper-back. If you ask me, it seems to have been a copycat murder from several years ago when ten people were killed in ten days in a variety of ways, some too gruesome to speak of. Each of their hearts had been taken, and numbers were carved into the bodies, ranging from 01121 to 10121. A name was also carved into them. I think someone by the last name of Sullivan . . ."

Sokka gasped. "We have to get Katara out of there! What if that **CrAzY** murderer is still out there!?" Sokka asked in horror as the super shook his head.

"I don't know exactly what's wrong with room 302, but something tells me that it's not just the room itself. I think there's something wrong with this whole hotel . . ."

Sokka, Aang, and Toph gulped uneasily as they looked nervously down the halls of the hotel, not noticing the two firebenders that hid nearby.

"Okay, it's not like you weren't scaring me before, but now you're _really_ starting to scare me . . ." Toph said as the super redirected his eyes from the hotel rooms to the children standing in front of him.

Sliding through the end of the hole, Katara's feet touched the hard surface of the subway's restroom floor. There was still absolutely no sign of Cynthia, and as Katara's eyes began to scale the open bathroom stalls, her heart leapt at what sat in the stall next to her.

Right hand smothered in heavy blood stains, a mannequin that appeared to be, at first glance, Cynthia, sat motionless in the stall. Strangely enough, the doll seemed to be reaching out to Katara with the bloody hand, holding a bundle of coins. Taking a closer look, Katara hesitantly retrieved the coins from the mannequin's hand in hopes that they would be of some use in the future.

The waterbender didn't want to stay in the restroom any longer, and so with one last glance at the awkward doll, Katara quickly made her way out of the restroom's exit.

The sniffers she had killed were still strewn out over the concrete floor, causing Katara to step over them as she continued down the hall. Up ahead of her was completely dark. Tightly gripping the rusty pipe in her hand, Katara readied to swing at anything that looked even a little like the sniffers.

To her horror, she heard a strange noise close by. It was quiet when it moved away from her, but unfortunately, the sound was growing much louder.

Katara looked in every direction she possibly could; only to realize that trying to see anything was completely useless.

Everything was pitch-black, and it seemed that the air was growing cooler and heavier. Katara's heart began to pound. She felt frozen in place, and sat in silence as the noise grew even louder.

Thump-thump . . .

Thump-thump . . .

Thump-thump . . .

She began to wonder if the noise coming from her heart could possibly be heard by whatever was haunting her.

A sudden sharp pain shot through her chest as she fell to the floor. Katara had been attacked by something snarling and panting rapidly. As it leapt into midair for the second time, the sound of a jaguar echoed ferociously into the atmosphere.

Breaking into a quick run, Katara couldn't bring herself to fight back. Fear filled her heart and clouded her mind.

_Am I losing it?_

Stopping at the instant she saw light, Katara nearly screamed as sharp teeth hooked to the back of her leg.

Being illuminated by the light, the creature revealed itself to be a sniffer. This one was larger, covered in blood, and shades of pink and purple tinted its rotting hide.

Jamming the pipe into its face, Katara freed herself of the knives that dug through her skin. The sniffer yelped out in pain as it sunk to the floor, squirming around helplessly.

The waterbender took off without wasting another second, coming to what seemed to be a turnstile. Using the coins she had found in hopes that they would work, the turnstile let Katara slip through, hesitantly heading for more insanely dark hallways.

"Cynthia!" Katara shouted through heavy pants for air as she made her way down the stairs in front of her.

To her dismay, there was no answer. Instead, Katara was welcomed by another light at the bottom of the stairs.

She heard the moans of another being as she had climbed further, still not yet completely being able to see the hallway that lied ahead of her. Katara didn't know how to react to the creature crawling out of the wall as she entered the brightly lit hallway, pausing her movements to listen. Grabbing her mother's necklace, Katara stood in terror. She unconsciously held her only weapon tighter than she had done so far as a ghostly monster reached for her, falling to the floor and breaking through the fleshy strings that binded it to the wall.

"I wonder if that man we saw back in Ba Sing Sei was the murderer that the superintendent was talking about." Prince Zuko thought, causing his uncle to rub his chin as he remembered what the super had said.

"Strangely, he _was_ holding an axe. . ." Iroh suggested, looking up at his nephew.

The two had been sitting in room 303, discussing Zuko's idea of actually siding with the Avatar. His uncle had happily agreed, asking how Prince Zuko was ever going to gain the boy's trust.

Zuko had explained that he would rescue the water tribe girl, but honestly . . .

He didn't know where to start.

Iroh didn't have any ideas either, and as the two sat in silence, Zuko had remembered the super's conversation with the Avatar about room 302 and the murder that had taken place in that very room.

"Do you think that he was the one who brought us to that forest?" Zuko asked.

Thinking for a moment, Iroh nodded. "I believe so, Zuko."

Zuko sighed. "Then I guess we're involved in this, too . . ."

If the man in the coat was the murderer, then the water tribe girl was in grave danger. He was in fact out there, hiding somewhere and most likely readying his next pursuit.

Prince Zuko needed to think of something soon, or else there would be no hope in ever seeing the girl alive again.

Katara had bravely charged after the ghost, swinging her pipe fiercely into its side. It only sounded as if Katara had decided to beat a body bag, trying to strike the ghost once more. Despite the amount of power Katara had sent along with her blows, nothing seemed to work. The ghost ignored her attempts and steadily floated towards her, slouching over as if it was dead in midair.

Being around the ghost gave her a somewhat painful headache, causing the waterbender to think of it as ghost fever. The area around her flashed red as long as she was in the monster's presence.

She had come to find that no matter how many times she stroked the ghost, it wasn't going to give up any time soon.

Katara decided to run down the next flight of stairs, that, unfortunately. . .

. . . Led into even more darkness.

"I hope there aren't any more of those monsters down here . . ." Katara whispered to herself as she entered the final floor that cached the Lynch Street Subway, itself.

"Get me out of here!" A familiar voice pleaded, banging on one of the many doors that lead into the subway's interior.

"Cynthia?!" Katara exclaimed, feeling relieved that she was still alive.

"Thank God you're here . . ." Cynthia gasped, quickly looking behind her as if someone was there.

"You have to let me out of here, quickly!" Cynthia warned, her face furrowing into a terrified expression.

"Who locked you in here??" Katara asked, noticing that the door couldn't be unlocked like other doors.

"I don't know his name, but he's a tall, shady character with long dirty-blonde hair. He's wearing a dark blue coat --- please find the switch that unlocks this door!"

Katara nodded. "Don't worry, I'll find that switch."

With those words, Katara quickly took off to the far end of the subway to her left, coming to a part of the hall that emitted a strange, bright red light. Next to the light was an already opened entrance on the subway, leading into a small control room with many small switches and gears that operated various devices.

Katara's best guess was a large red switch with a bloody hand print stained into its surface, pressing it in hopes that Cynthia would no longer be trapped alone.

Listening, she could here clicking sounds stepping their way at a quick pace towards Katara. Looking into the room, Cynthia smiled. "We should hurry."

With a nod, Katara stepped out from the subway control room, leading Cynthia back down the hall to the newly opened door that she had once been stuck behind.

"Why are we going this way?" Cynthia asked, looking down at the waterbender in front of her.

"Trust me --- it's definitely not safe to go the other way." Katara explained, remembering the ghost that was probably still wandering around in the hallway she had abandoned.

"In that case, I'd rather go this way. That strange man didn't go this way, I'm pretty sure."

"Which way did he go?" Katara asked, walking further as Cynthia answered.

"I'm not sure, but he said he'd be back, so we'd better hurry."

Katara's eyes wandered, examining the strange objects that hung from the gates that were awkwardly placed in the subway. Some of them appeared to be different parts of mannequins and others seemed to be torture devices. Eerily, they were covered in blood as if they had recently been used.

Katara had wondered who would put up gates and leave such horrible and strange things hanging from them in a _subway_.

Cynthia sighed as she had also noticed the strange things throughout the subway. "This is the worst dream I've ever had."

Minutes had gone by, Katara and Cynthia finding their way through the twisting and turning maze of the subway. To their misfortune, some rooms were stuck shut and others were just locked. There had even been a ghost in one of the sections, and Katara had been almost too scared to move since the encounter.

It had unexpectedly reached into her chest and attacked her heart, causing everything around Katara to change to a bright white. She had no control over herself for a few moments, but fortunately the monster was disrupted when Cynthia had decided to lunge at the creature with her purse, angering it.

Katara fell to the floor, gasping for air as she clutched her chest in extreme pain. Cynthia had grabbed a hold of the waterbender's arm, pulling her up into a fast run. "We can't stop for too long!" she shouted back to her, leading Katara through a door that turned out to be the last door the two had to venture through.

This time they were led to a section of the subway with an open entrance leading out into a hallway, being the hallway on the opposite side of the Lynch Street Subway.

Walking out of the subway's nightmare of a maze, Katara could hear the sounds of two more ghosts bleeding through the walls.

"Oh, no . . ." She breathed. "Hurry!" Running to a door at the far end of the hall to her left, Katara listened to Cynthia's clicking heels as she ran away from the sounds of the ghosts.

Door slamming shut behind her, Katara froze, catching her breath. Strangely, the door had shut on its own as soon as Katara had entered the new room, lighted by bright red colors.

The door didn't budge, and Katara realized that it was shut for good.

"Cynthia!" Katara shouted as she banged roughly on the door.

Her fists grew sore the more she tried to make it budge. Cynthia was, once again, stuck alone.

Katara could only hope for her well being, and looked up to the large familiar hole tunneling into the side of the wall in front of her.

"I guess I should check up on Sokka and the others. I'm sure their still trying to figure out what's wrong with my door . . ." Katara figured as she climbed into the hole, once again waking up in her bead.

Without hesitating, she ran directly to her door, checking through the peep hole in order to see what was going on.

The only one standing outside her door was the super. He looked at the door with an irritated expression, not quite understanding what was happening on the other side. Katara frowned.

If only she had a way to communicate with them, then she could tell them everything. Maybe they could make her feel something other than absolute animal fear. Katara wanted to see them again, standing together in front of her door. She wanted the chains to just disappear so she could step out into the real world, away from this alternate reality she had been trapped in.

Katara looked sadly at the chains that strapped her door and at the words that told her not to leave.

Turning around to grab her weapon, she froze at the site of a desk that looked like someone had moved it while she was gone. It sat in a crooked position, and once Katara moved it, she had decided to move it over away from the wall it had once sat against. She had discovered a small passage which looked to have been carved into the wall's exterior with an ice pick.

Next to it was a large area in which someone had tried to burrow through the wall in order to get into the other room in means of escape and freedom. What sat in the center of the dug up wall was a small hole going through to the other side only large enough to look through.

Katara began to read the passage, her eyes squinting at the smallness of some of the words.

_The faint hope I had is slowly changing_

_to despair._

_I've somehow managed to tunnel this_

_far, but no matter what I do, I can't get_

_any farther._

_The hallway, the windows, the walls..._

_It feels like this room is stuck_

_in another dimension._

_No one ever noticed..._

Slowly bringing her sapphire eyes up to the hole, Katara gasped at the site of the firebender sitting on the other side.

The waterbender's heart filled with anger in remembrance of his sudden actions towards them all in Ba Sing Sei. She scooted backwards, away from the wall and the site of the banished prince of the firenation.

"There's no way I can warn Aang about this!" Katara stressed, looking hopelessly at the chained up door.

Sighing, she grabbed the pipe that rested against the wall beside her bed. Katara needed to make sure that Cynthia was safe, heading through the hole in her bathroom wall without wasting any more time being angry.

Once back in the Otherworld, Katara ended up back in the red lit room. She noticed a ladder leading downward to another floor.

"This'll have to do." Katara assured herself as she climbed to what seemed to be another room lit by red lights.

Once her feet landed on the floor, her heart began to pound as she heard a sound that made her heart ache just by hearing it.

_More ghosts_.

Katara broke into a quick run, her long hair dancing around in the heavy air as it swayed behind her.

Turning on heel, she zipped past a ghost, not wanting to be around by the time it had freed itself from the confinements of bloody chains that strung it to the wall.

Coming to a blood-stained door at the end of the room, Katara didn't hesitate to swing it open, shutting in securely behind her.

She was once again led into an open area with train tracks for the Lynch and King Street subways and a long dark hall ahead of her; lit enough for her to see what was in front of her this time.

Katara could hear the growls of sniffers up ahead, feeling only a little relieved that all of them were smaller than the one she had last encountered. Readying her weapon, Katara inched her way forward, sneaking up on the nearest monster.

It seemed to ignore her presence, the other three doing just the same. They appeared to be too busy sniffing around the benches and trash that lied on the floor, and so Katara took this chance to sneak past them, unharmed.

Quietly making her way around the other side of the wall that sat not too far away from the small group of sniffers, Katara had lead herself to another set of stairs. She quickly made her way upward, almost running up the stretch of steps.

Something darted out through the wall directly in front of her, causing a scream to slip out through her mouth, already hiding in her hands as she fell to the floor.

The creature roared violently and swiped at her, reaching for her legs as she slid them up to her chest in fear that it would reach her.

Giving up on trying to grasp her, the creature slipped back into its hiding place, which was apparently the wall.

Slowly rising, Katara steadied her position for a moment, preparing to dart past the monster.

_Okay, on the count of three . . . _She thought to herself, readying herself to run as fast as she could.

_One . . ._

_Two . . ._

_Three!!!_

Her legs carried her forward as fast as they could possibly carry her. The monster had dove back out of the wall, now behind her. She continued to run, not wanting to look back at the frightful creature. As she dashed up the stairs, other monsters rushed out after her as well, failing their attempts to reach her.

Finally reaching the top, Katara panted heavily. She felt so relieved to be away from the wall men, her heart practically melting in her exasperation at the first monster for making her scream. She didn't want to attract any unwanted attention, especially from that man in the coat . . .

Katara made her way into the new hall, short enough that Katara could already see another set of stairs leading up to a higher level.

Taking a deep breath, she dared to venture up the steps. This time, there were no wall men.

Instead, Katara was welcomed by Cynthia's makeup items strewn in a messy pile on the dark gray concrete floor. Katara felt uneasy about entering the small room next to the items scattered on the floor.

It had a large glass window, and the waterbender could already see that it was smothered in bright red blood. Hesitantly walking up to the door, Katara removed a placard that had been placed on its surface, showing a woman and reading "Temptation."

The door creaked open, and Katara's heart sank at the person she saw lying motionless on the floor.

"C-Cynthia . . ." Katara gasped as she ran to her side, looking over what appeared to be multiple stab wounds on her body.

Raising Cynthia's head with her right hand as Katara sat next to her, a tear slid down her cheek as she saw the blood covered not only the woman, but the entire room as well.

"_This . . . is just a dream . . .right_?" she asked, struggling to speak through the blood taking over her mouth.

Katara nodded, looking down at the suffering woman she had tried to save, but failed.

"Did that man do this to you?" Katara asked in a quiet tone, Cynthia struggling to keep her eyes open.

" _. . . I . . . I feel like I'm dying . . ."_ Cynthia muttered.

Taking Cynthia's hand with her free one, Katara assured her that she would wake up and this would all be over.

Katara struggled to hold back tears as Cynthia stopped breathing, her eyes remaining open.

The waterbender gently brushed a hand over her face, closing her eyes. Letting go of her head, Katara examined something that had been carved into Cynthia's chest.

"16121"

Cradling her face in her hands, Katara began to cry, feeling unimaginable guilt towards everything that had just happened . . .

Everything that wasn't ever meant to be.

You lie, silent there before me

Your tears, they mean nothing to me

The wind, howling at the window

The love you never gave

I give to you

Really don't deserve it

But now, there's nothing you can do

So sleep, in your only memory

Of me, my dearest mother

Here's a lullaby to close your eyes

Goodbye

It was always you that I despised

I don't feel enough for you to cry

Oh well

Here's a lullaby to close your eyes

Goodbye

Goodbye

Goodbye

Goodbye

So insignificant

Sleeping dormant deep inside of me

Are you hiding away, lost, under the sewers?

Maybe flying high, in the clouds

Perhaps you're happy without me

So many seeds have been sown in the field

And who could sprout up so blessedly if I had died

I would have never felt sad at all

You will not hear me say

"I'm sorry", where is the light

Wonder if it's weeping somewhere

Here's a lullaby to close your eyes.

Goodbye

It was always you that I despised

I don't feel enough for you to cry

Oh well

Here's a lullaby to close your eyes

Goodbye

Here's a lullaby to close your eyes

Goodbye

It was always you that I despised

I don't feel enough for you to cry

Oh well

Here's a lullaby to close your eyes

Goodbye

Goodbye

Goodbye

Goodbye

Here's a lullaby to close your eyes

Goodbye

It was always you that I despised

I don't feel enough for you to cry

Oh well

Here's a lullaby to close your eyes

Goodbye

Here's a lullaby to close your eyes

Goodbye

It was always you that I despised

I don't feel enough for you to cry

Oh well

Here's a lullaby to close your eyes

Goodbye

Goodbye

Goodbye

Goodbye


End file.
